This is a guest contribution from Chris Alarcon of Financially Well Off
In an age of technological advancement, making money without much effort can be very appealing. And there is no debating that diving into passive income opportunities is one of the rising ventures dominating the industry.
Passive income is generally earnings that require little to no supervision and effort once a system is in place. It helps generate regular profits from several investments in which you do not actively participate. You can either let your money grow for the long haul or make it work for you over a limited period. It does not, however, guarantee high yield overnight.
Having several passive income investments is one of the methods that wealthy people use to grow their wealth. Beyond passive income, the core objective is to create a reliable earning option or a long term financial solution. It helps increase your wealth-building capacity and could also serve as your cushion when encountering economic downturns.
Ultimately, having many passive income sources allows you to worry less about encountering financial constraints. Several passive income sources–such as real estate ownership, partnerships, high yield savings, and the stock market, are used by investors. These are all great investments, but what are some ways to generate passive income with low or no initial funds at all?
How to Generate Passive Income with No Initial Funds
If you’re thinking about ways on how to generate passive income with little to no funds in mind, here are a couple of examples you should consider:
- Write Blog Posts. While opening up a blog is only limited in its passivity, creating informative and highly sought-after content can bring high internet traffic hence, high passive earnings. To gain more profit earnings from a blog, you can also use online advertisements or affiliate links on your website. It may take quite a bit of research to build a profitable blog.
- Make YouTube videos. Creating YouTube videos is also a useful passive income trend that ultimately requires no cash funds at all. With the number of videos created today, more and more content creators opt for this form of passive income source. The higher the level of competition, the lesser the chances of earning a lot of profit over a short period.
It can be hard to generate passive income immediately, even when opting for these low fund ideas. Although building a blog and a vlog are excellent sources of passive income, requiring little funds to get started, it can take a significant amount of time to find the right audience and build site traffic. Hence, it will also take some time for you to see your money grow.
Another downside these passive income ideas have is an indefinite and inconsistent yield. Although these investments require little money, they need decent graphic and writing skills are required to take advantage of them.
One of the best approaches to generating passive income is investing in great financial vehicles available in the market. If you are looking for a safer return and a regular stream of passive income, a bond is a great option. But how do you make bond investments as a passive income, and how good can it be?
What Are Bonds and How Do They Work?
Generally, it is much more lucrative to invest in stocks than bonds; but, the risk and losses are always higher. So, instead of investing in an unstable stock market, you can opt for bonds and become a company or government bondholder.
A bond is a fixed passive income source with an agreement between two parties; the bondholder and the bond issuer. The bondholder is usually the investor, and the bond issuers are generally companies or governments.
Several bond types, including the US Treasury Bonds, are a bond issued by the US Federal government. Its maturity duration can range from 30 days to 30 years. Because the US government backs Treasury bonds, it guarantees a relatively low risk and issues bonds with a relatively low yield.
Opting for foreign government bonds instead of the US Treasury Bonds is also one right way to increase your passive income yield, as the market movement varies from one country to another. Foreign bonds pose a mixture of risks, which collectively could be a good thing as it diversifies the impact on your investments at a much lower and distributed level.
Another thing to consider when investing in a bond is the credit ratings of the corporation. Focusing on investment-grade issuers can help find bonds with the least credit risk. An investment-grade corporate bond is rated as a low-risk bond and is more likely to return the principal payment to its bondholders.
Non-investment grade corporate bonds, or junk bonds, on the one hand, are bonds that offer higher yields but entail higher risk. They’re less likely to return the principal payment and are more prone to file for bankruptcy.
Municipal bonds are bonds mostly issued by the US government or its municipalities to finance their projects such as roads, schools, bridges, and other infrastructures.
For conservative portfolios, floating-rate bonds can be an appealing choice as well. These are bonds that have interest coupons maturing within a short period.
Convertible bonds are bonds listed by corporations that allow bondholders to convert their bonds into individual shares. Like other bonds, convertible bonds offer coupons, and their prices are dependent on the market rate and the bond issuer’s credit rating.
MBS, or Mortgage-backed securities, are bonds that are backed by a pool of real estate holdings and property loans. It is also a safe way to earn a passive income.
To easily understand the outlines of the bond systems, here are the essential metrics you should know:
- Par value, also known as the bond’s face value, is the amount of money that bond issuers promise to repay the bondholder upon the bond’s maturity. For most corporations, the premium bond can range from $1,000 to $10,000, and government bonds can go a little over this rate. A bar that trades below the par value is called a discount bond.
- The maturity date is the date on which the bond’s term will eventually end. Bond issuers will have to return their par value to the bondholder. When a bond reaches maturity, the bondholder will receive the principal loan from the bond issuer.
- Coupon rate refers to the amount of interest that bond issuers pay on top of the bond’s par value. It is the periodic amount of money that the bondholder will receive.
- Yield to maturity refers to the bond’s expected total return until its maturity. It helps check the internal return of a bond as well until its maturity date.
- Bond ratings provide the rough default risks of a bond. The highest rating can be AAA, and the lowest is C and D, depending on the bond rating firm. A reliable example of a bond rating firm would be Standard & Poor’s (S&P).
So now you’re in a position where you want to invest in bonds because you want to have a steady stream of passive income. How do you start investing in bonds?
The art of good investing is in starting early. Investing at an early age allows you to take a higher yield and gives ample time to grow a bond investment. At age 21, your $1,000 investment could yield over $500 by the time that you are 30 years old. Now, this doesn’t sound much, but passive income is still passive income.
Measure your investment success and weigh the scales accordingly and as much as possible, accurately. Setting a good goal for any bond investment also helps you decide the future of your passive income. Calculating how much passive income you will need to cover your expenses over the long haul is a great strategy as well.
A closer look at each type of bond may have given you several bond investment choices in mind, but you don’t always have to choose. Bonds are often viewed as less risky alternatives to stocks and are often used to diversify a portfolio. Diversifying your portfolio and taking chances into different bond types will likely provide higher possible return and divide the market risks and blows.
Build Multiple Streams Of Passive Income
Experienced investors reinvest their earnings back into their bond portfolio, and you should do the same. While the stock market drives any stockholders’ ups and downs, bond investments are always indirectly and least affected by this market force. Bonds are often treated as a haven for investors because they generally don’t suffer many losses, especially in an unpredicted economic decline.
In a rapidly advancing market, the idea of making your money grow by itself is everyone’s dream. Understanding the value of bonds is a great way to start generating that passive income.
It does not entail excellent yield, yet they are less risky and are more fixed than most investments. Don’t always opt for methods that will make you rich overnight. If you find investing as a great passive income stream aligned towards your financial goals, remember that bonds exist for a reason.
